Apparatus for liquid separation of solids.



F. I. DU PONT. APPARATUS FOR LIQUID SEPARATION OF SOLIDS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 2,1910.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Patented Aug. 4;, 1914.

9,7 I INVENTOR PM 1/[ H4, mud:

.4TTORNEY6 WITNESSES:

F. I. DU PONT. APPARATUS FOR LIQUID SEPARATION OF SOLIDS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 2,1910.

Patented Aug/1, 191i 4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

NVEIVTOR L-QW OD F. I. DU PONT. APPARATUS FOR LIQUID SEPARATION OFSOLIDS.

APPLICATION TILED FEB. 2,1010.

Patented Aug. 4, 1914 4 SHEETSBHEET 3.

F. I. DU PON T. APPARATUS FOR LIQUID SEPARATION OF SOLIDS.

APPLICATION FILED rnn.z,1a1o. 1,106,1 195, Patented Aug. 4, 1914. 4snnms snnnr 4.

lmwmor 1: TED STATES PATENT oFEIoE.

FRANCIS I. no PONT, 0F WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, ASSIGNOR TO INTERNATIONALHALOID'COMPANY. A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

APPARATUS FOR LIQUID SEPARATION OF SOLIDS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 4., 1914.

Application filed February 2, 1910. Serial No. 541,545.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FnANors I. DU Pour, a citizen of the United States,residing at WVilmington, county of New Castle, and State of Delaware,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for LiquidSeparation of Solids, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, whichform a part of this specification. I

My invention relates to an apparatus for the liquid gravity separationof solids of different specific gravities, a preferred embodiment ofwhich is hereinafter described and is illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure 1 is'a vertical section through a liquidseparator and treating furnace partially shown in elevation. Fig. 2 is asection on line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 ofFig. 1. Fig. 4 is a section on line 4-4 of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a sectionon line 55 ofFig. 1. Fig. 6 is a vertical section of the condensershowing the float valve in elevation.- Fig. 7 is a horizontal section ofthe condenser. Fig. 8 is a cross section of the guide which passesthrough the furnace. Fig. 9 is a plan view of a continuously conductedseparator. Fig. 10 is a cross section of a double guide which passesthrough the furnace. Fig. 11 is a sectional elevation of the apparatusshown in Fig. 9.

a, b, c, is a tank, a being a central horizontal portion, 19 being aninclined portion at one end of the central horizontal portion, and 0being an inclined portion projecting from the other end of the centralhorizontal portion. In this tank is a liquid, for instance, bromid ofantimony, as the separating liquid.

If the liquid to be used is a material which is not a liquid at ordinarytemperature, I provide in the tank the heating coils (Z. In this tankare the conveyer chains 6, between which are flights f formed ofrectangular plates. These conveyer chains are driven by the sprocketwheels 9 and are guided by the rollers h and z'. The diameter of thesprocket g, the rollers h and the position of therollers i are such thatin the portion a of the tank one section of the conveyer is at the upperportion of the liquid and the other section of the conveyor is at thelower portion of the liquid. The conveyer travels in the direction ofthe arrow and at a slow speed. i

In order to prevent the deleterious effect of any fuming where theliquid fumes at 0 all at ordinary temperatures, 1t is advisable 1npractice to provide a cover for the tank. This-cover is provided with anopenmg 1 about central of the horizontal section a of the tank, throu hwhich opening the as material is fed into t e tank.

By specific gravity the constituents separate, the heavier falling tothe bottom and the lighter remaining in the upper portion. The conveyer,which in its travel moves 70 quite slowly, in the lower section, bymeans of the flights catches the heavier constituents, drawing them upthe incline b. The

liquid carried by the flights, when the flights pass beyond the liquidlevel of the tank, will drain off from the flights; and the solidconstituents, although the liquid has drained off, will still be wetwith it, and will be carried to a point where the chute j. opens,through which they may be discharged. The flights on the upper sectionof the chain will catch and carry with them the light constituents,carrying them up the incline c, and when the flights have reached apoint above the liquid the same will drain from them. The inclinedbottom 27 and roller E will prevent the escape 01 thesolids until theflights have passed around the roller when, being uncovered, they alinewith the chute 10.

In order to remove the liquid carried by the constituents and recoverthe same I use the following construction. The material may be earned orfed from the chutes into a hopper m. The bottom of this hopper may beprovided with a slide 0 normally closed and operated by an eccentric p,the operation of which allows graded quantities to pass out of the mouthof the hopper.

is an iron band caused to travel around 10( the rollers 1- byappropriate means. Its movement should be quite slow. This band 7 passesthrough a cast iron passage 8, shown in section, Fig. 8. This cast ironItpo n the mlddle part Of tlllS COIldGHSGI. the

vapors are drawn ofi by means of a fan to and discharged into the pipe:0. This pipe 00. has two pipe connections y extending to the cast ironpassageoutside of the pointfrom which the pipes to are led and at alittle distance from'said pipes u.

Upon the pipes y are the dampers :By means of the dampers z the amountof air which passes through each of the pipes 3 may be'adjusted each inits relation to the other. By this arrangement, it will be noticed thatthe circulation is so arranged that in the hottest part of the recoveryapparatus there is no circulation in either direction and practically adead space. The purpose of this is that the circulation of air may notinterfere with the heating effect which is desired.

lit will be noted that the pipes 3 deliver the air into parts of theapparatus cooler than those from which the air passes by the pipes u.This also avoids a loss of heat and in addition to this has theefl'ectof subjecting a hot pieces of ore to a draft which has been freedto a great extent from the vapors of the liquid which it is desired torecover.

The band 9, passing through the cast iron conduit .9, would, without theconstruction described, carry a certain amount of air with it, which, ifit was allowed to pass through freely, might result in a possible lossof liquid. By properly arranging and adjust ing the dampers 2, all-exactbalance may be obtained and thus prevent any outside air being allowedto circulate through this cast iron conduit .9. This is accomplished byadjusting the amount of air which would tend to pass from 1 to 2' in itsrelation to the amount of air which would tend to pass from 8 to 4, sothat the friction of these amounts of air in the conduit will exactlycounterbalance any tendency of the air to be carried in or out ofthecast iron conduit 8 at its ends.

The condenser which I use is constructed as follows. It is a rectangularvessel having an open top forming a water pan 5 and a lower section 6,through or in which are formed 21g zag conduits 7, so that the air andvapors which pass into the condenser through the pipes a follow thecourse indicated by the arrows, the divisions insuring a long conduit incontact with the bottom of the water pan, which water pan acts as acondenser. This pan is kept full of water but is not supplied with anyoverflow. lit.

is filled with water by means of the pipe 8v and is regulated to keepthe tank full by means of the float valve 9. This water is allowed toheat to its boiling point or even to boil, so that the condenser isprevented from reaching a point above the boiling point of water, whichis the condition desired when the separated liquid used is such asbromid of antimony, which becomes liquid at 93 (3.,

' higher. Were the condenser kept cool and at a low point oftemperature, the material would solidify in it and make handling of thesame awkward. With the arrangement described, the materal is maintainedas a liquid and passes out through the pipe 10 as Y a liquid. This pipe10 may be at any point on the bottom of the condenser and may extend tothe tank to return the liquid recovered to the body of separatingliquid. The material passing through chute 10 may be treat-ed in asimilar manner to remove, re-

cover and return its carried liquid.

lit may be desired to arrange the apparatus so that the separation maybe conducted continuously and those portions of the material beingtreated which contain -waste material may be crushed sufficiently fineso that the waste. material may be separated from the good ore orheavier solid to which it adheres. Such an arrangement is indicated inFig. 9, in which 30 is the separating tank just described. There is arecovery apparatus, for each separated constituent, the same as justdescribed, except that in this case there is a double conduit 8providing for two separate bands g through the heating chamber. Asection of this double conduit is indicated in F ig.- 10, where it willbe seen that the two conduits are in communication with each other sothat vapors may pass from either one of the pipes indiscriminately. 33is a crusher. In the operation of this arrangement the solids, forexample, iron ore, are fed in at 34:, where they are conveyed by meansof the conveyer shown to the tank 30 where separation of the lighterfrom the heavier constituents takes place, as before described, theheavier constituent falling on to the band and the lighter constituenton to the band 36. These constituents are carried by means of the bandsthrough the recovery apparatus and from these constituents the liquid isrecovered and may be returned to the tank 30. The heavierconstituentthen falls into the hopper 37 where it is disposed of as maybe desired. The lighter constituent falls on to a shaking sieve 38. Suchportion as passes through this sieve falls into the chute 39 and isdisposed of as waste, that portion which does not pass through the sieveis conveyed by means of the conveyer -10 and elevator 41 through thecrusher 33 and again to the tank 30, where such portions of good ore ashave been separated from the waste by crushing are passed as beforedescribed through the separator and recovery apparatus and into thehopper 37, whereas such portions as are not of the grade desired, whichmay be determined by the specific gravity of the liquid in tank 30,

but whose point of volatilization is much the sieve 38 it is possible toarrange the ap 130 paratus so that it will reject waste material onlyafter it has been crushed, down to such size as is desired. This willdetermine the degree to which the separation of the good ore from thewaste material is effected, and it will be dependent upon the characterof the ore which is being treated.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim and desire toprotect by Letters Patent is 1. The combination with a tank adapted tohold the separating liquid having an outlet from which the separatedconstituent is discharged, of a conveyer,-a conduit through which theconveyer travels, means to heat the conduit, a condenser, a pipe leadingto the condenser from the conduit at a-relatively hot part of thelatter, a vapor discharge from the condenser and a pipe leading from thevapor discharge to the conduit at a relatively cool part of the latter,and means to deliver material from the tank outlet to the conveyer, saidtank, conduit and condenser being closed against direct connection withthe external atmosphere.

2. The combination with a tank adapted to hold the separating liquidhaving an outlet from which the separated consituent is discharged, of aconveyer, a conduit through which the conveyer travels, means to heatthe conduit, a condenser, pipes leading to the condenser from theconduit at a relatively hot part of the latter, a vapor discharge fromthe condenser, pipes leading from the vapor discharge to the conduit ata relatively cooler part of the latter, dampers on the last named pipes,and means to deliver material from the tank outlet to the conveyer, saidtank, conduit and condenser being closed against direct connection withthe external atmosphere.

3. The combination with a tank to hold the separating liquid having anoutlet from which the separated constituent is discharged, of aconveyer, a furnace, a conduit extending through the furnace and throughwhich the conveyer travels, a condenser a pipe leading from the conduit,at a re atively hot part of the furnace, to the condenser, a vapordischarge pi e from the condenser and a pipe leading t erefrom to theconduit at a relatively cool part thereof, and means to deliver materialfrom the tank outlet to the conveyer, said tank, conduit and condenserbeing closed against direct connection with the external atmosphere.

4:. The combination with a tank to hold the separating liquid having anoutlet from which the separated constituent is discharged, of a hoppercommunicatin with the discharge, a conveyer on whic said hopper opens,means to deliver material from the hopper to the conveyer, a conduitthrough which said conveyer travels, means to heat the conduit, acondenser, a pipe lead ing from a relatively hot part of the conduit tothe condenser, a vapor discharge from the condenser, and a pipe leadingfrom the vapor discharge to t e conduit at a relatively cool part of thelatter, said tank, hopper, conduit and condenser being closed againstdirect connection with the external atmosphere.

5. The combination with a tank to hold the separating liquid having anoutlet from which the separated constituent is dis-' charged, of ahopper communicating with the discharge, a conveyer on which said hopperopens, the hopper to theconveyer,a conduit through which said conveyertravels, a furnace through which the conduit extends, a condenser, pipesleading from the conduit at a relatively hot part of the furnace, avapor discharge from the condenser, and pipes leading from the pipedischarge to the condnit outside of the pipes leading from the conduitto the condenser, said tank, hopper, conduit and condenser being closedagainst direct connection with the external atmosphere.

In testimony of which invention, I have hereunto set my hand, atPhiladelphia, on this 31st day of January, 1910.

FRANCIS I. DU PONT.

Witnesses:

M. M. HAMILTON, A. M. URIAN.

means to deliver material from-

